Wireless communications (mobile communications) enable users to perform a variety of tasks using their mobile devices. An ever increasing number of applications is available for the wireless data processing systems, wireless data communication devices, or wireless computing platforms (collectively and interchangeably, “mobile device” or “mobile devices”). For example, many mobile devices not only allow the users to make voice calls, but also exchange emails and messages, access remote data processing systems, and perform web-based interactions and transactions. Wearable devices are a category of mobile devices. A wearable device is essentially a mobile device, but has a form-factor that is suitable for wearing the device on a user's person.
Hereinafter, a mobile application is interchangeably referred to as simply “mobile app” or “app” unless expressly disambiguated where used. A mobile application is a software application that is designed and configured to operate on a mobile device.
A mobile app comprises user interface components and functional components. A user interface (UI) allows a human user to interact with the app, and a functional component performs a function or operation for which the app is configured. The functional components are sub-divided according to functions performed by those components. One type of functional components are integration components, which perform functions related to integration of the mobile app with other applications and systems. Another type of functional components includes functional components which perform app-specific functions other than integration functions.
For example, a map app has a map display UI which presents map information to a user and receives inputs from the user. A map engine implemented in the app collects Global Positioning System (GPS) data, extracts map data from a repository, plots the GPS data relative to map data, collects other information pertinent to the GPS location—e.g. weather or traffic data—from their respective sources, and constructs a map presentation that can be presented on the map UI.